"Ode to the Boy Who Jumped Me" by Monica Sok

You and your friend stood / on the corner of the liquor store

Support Poem-a-Day February 20, 2020   Ode to the Boy Who Jumped Me Monica Sok You and your friend stood  on the corner of the liquor store as I left Champa Garden,  takeout in hand, on the phone  with Ashley who said,  That was your tough voice. I never heard your tough voice before.  I gave you boys a quick nod,  walked E 21st past dark houses.  Before I could reach the lights  on Park, you criss-crossed  your hands around me, like a friend and I'd hoped  that you were Seng,  the boy I'd kissed on First Friday  in October. He paid for my lunch  at that restaurant, split the leftovers.  But that was a long time ago  and we hadn't spoken since,  so I dropped to my knees  to loosen myself from your grip,  my back to the ground, I kicked  and screamed but nobody  in the neighborhood heard me,  only Ashley on the other line,  in Birmingham, where they say  How are you? to strangers  not what I said in my tough voice but what I last texted Seng,  no response. You didn't get on top,  you hovered. My elbows banged  the sidewalk. I threw  the takeout at you and saw  your face. Young. More scared  of me than I was of you.  Hands on my ankles, I thought  you'd take me or rape me.  Instead you acted like a man  who slipped out of my bed and promised to call:  You said nothing.  Not even what you wanted. Copyright © 2020 by Monica Sok. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 20, 2020, by the Academy of American Poets. "After this incident I asked myself: What is it like to feel safe, seen, and heard all at once and all the time? In this poem, I wove two complex experiences together (getting jumped/being ghosted), while considering the layers of silence in both. I wrote this as an ode, not to praise the boy who jumped me but to directly address him, to let him know that I saw him that night even when he could not see me." —Monica Sok Monica Sok is the author of A Nail the Evening Hangs On (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). She is a 2018-2020 Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University and lives in Oakland, California.   A Nail the Evening Hangs On (Copper Canyon Press, 2020) "I Might Have Dreamed This" by Kirsten Dierking read more "Verga" by Robin Coste Lewis read more Thanks to Roger Reeves, author of King Me (Copper Canyon Press, 2013), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read an extended Q&A about Reeves' curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Make a one-time contribution to help us publish Poem-a-Day.   Make your support go further by enrolling in monthly giving and joining the Mug Club! Copyright © 2020 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: The Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane St #901 New York, NY 10038 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.